Out of the Box Tips: Set Up Your New Laptop Like a Pro

You pull your brand-new laptop out of its packaging and plug it in for the first time. Then you go through the Windows setup, and you're all done, right? Not really. Your notebook is not really ready--or truly yours--until you do some tweaking. Here are eleven things you should do with your new PC.

Step 1: Run All Windows Updates

Your computer is probably going to download a series of Windows 10 updates on its own so why not get it over with by forcing them to install manually?

1. Type "updates" in the search box.

2. Click "Check for updates."

Windows will start searching for and downloading updates, but you don't have to wait for this process to complete before moving on to your next task.

Step 2: Uninstall Bloatware

Most PC vendors put lots of third-party, preloaded software on your computer. From 30-day trials of antivirus software to casual games (ex: Candy Crush) you may not want to play, all of this bloatware is sucking up system resources. To uninstall bloatware:

1. Navigate to Settings. You can get there from the Start Menu.

2. Select System.

3. Select Apps and Features from the left menu. If you don't see this option, press inside the search box and type Apps, then select Apps and Features. Alternatively, you can skip steps 1 and 2 and type Apps and Features straight from the Search Box on the Taskbar.

4. Select an app you wish to uninstall.

5. Click Uninstall.

6. Click the second uninstall button that appears.

Step 3: Copy or Sync Your Files

What good is your new computer if it doesn't have your most important data on it? There are several possible ways to move your documents, photos, videos and other key files over from an old computer. These include

OneDrive Sync: If your important files are stored in OneDrive, they will automatically download to the new computer once you log into the new PC with your Microsoft account.

Dropbox or Google Drive: These services work just like OneDrive but don't come preloaded with Windows (unless your laptop manufacturer put them there). If you were using them to store files on your old computer, install them on the new one.

Copy files manually. Select all the files under your Documents, Music, Videos and Photos libraries, copy them to an external drive (ex: Flash drives) and then copy them over to the new machine. This is a bit tedious so we recommend using Cloud storage if possible.

Step 4: Install Antivirus

Antivirus software is important no matter how careful you think you are on the internet. If you hit even one wrong link, accidentally or otherwise, your entire computer could become victim to a malware infection — an awful scenario that can generally be avoided with some good antivirus software. The point of antivirus software is to prevent these sorts of situations before they happen and, if that fails, fix them immediately afterward. It's crucial that you have some sort of antivirus software to shield your PC from threats.If you're looking for a recommendation, we rated Bitdefender as one of the best free antivirus software available, thanks to its excellent malware protection and low impact on your PC's performance, as well as 24/7 customer support. With it, you can prevent virus attacks before they happen, as well as scan and eliminate threats after the fact, if anything harmful manages to make it onto your computer. Here's a quick guide on how to install Bitdefender free antivirus software.

2.Go to your downloads folder and find the bitdefender_online.exe file you just downloaded. Click on it. It will then install Bitdefender.

3. To avoid annoying pop-up reminders or any potential long-term issues with Bitdefender functionality, make a Bitdefender account (the window for doing this will appear automatically after installation). It's as simple as providing your name, email and creating a password. From there, Bitdefender will be up and running and you'll be good to go — it'll operate autonomously and let you go about your internet activities in peace, protecting you all the while.

Step 5: Set Up Windows Hello Fingerprint or Face Logins

Many current-generation laptops come with either a fingerprint reader or an infrared camera for facial recognition. If you have either one, you should set up Windows Hello, a feature that lets you log in with a finger or a glance.

1. Navigate to Settings.

2. Click Accounts.

3. Select Sign-in options.

4. Click the Set up button under either Fingerprint or Face Recognition.5. Click Get Started.

6. Swipe your finger (for fingerprint readers) or stare at the camera (for facial recognition) as directed. If you don't have a fingerprint reader or an IR camera, Windows 10 won't let you proceed.7. Click Set up PIN. Windows 10 requires that you have a PIN as a back up, in case your finger or face doesn't register. You won't be asked to do this if you already have a PIN.

8. Enter a PIN and click OK.

Step 6: Install Your Browser of Choice (or stick with Edge)

Microsoft's Edge Browser is fast, lightweight and definitely worth considering. However, if you're used to using Chrome and Firefox and you have accounts and / or extensions set up in them, you'll want your favorite browser right away. To set your new browser as the default, follow these steps.

5. Click the icon under Web browser. It may say "Choose a default" or it may have the icon for the current default browser.

6. Select your browser in the pop-up menu that appears.

Step 7: Configure Cortana or Turn Her Off

Microsoft's built-in digital assistant offers a number of neat features, such as the ability to set reminders, find files by semantic search, answer questions using Bing's knowledge base, perform some voice commands and give you alerts for things like weather and sports scores. If the idea of having a digital assistant appeals to you, you need to activate Cortana and give her some information about you. If you don't want a digital assistant and choose not to activate Cortana, you can still use her search box to find files and apps.

To activate Cortana:

1. Click in the search box.

2. Click "Cortana can do much more."

3. Click Sign in.

If you aren't logged in to a Microsoft account, you'll be prompted to sign in, but you should already be logged into Windows 10 with that account (unless you went out of your way to create a local account).

4. Select the notebook icon in the left menu bar that appears when you click the search box.

A list of icons appears.

5. Click About Me to enter your name and favorite places (such as work and home).

6. Click Sports to tell Cortana what teams you follow.

7. Click Connected Accounts to give Cortana access to data from other accounts.

8. To turn Cortana off, click in the search box and press the settings menu on the left side. Under the Talk to Cortana tab, slide the Let Cortana respond to "Hey Cortana" to the left. You can also search "Speed, inking, & typing" in the main search box and turn off Stop getting to know me from that setting.

Step 8: Disable the Time-Wasting Lock Screen

Unless you enjoy staring at an attractive photo when you first boot or wake your PC, the Windows lock screen serves absolutely no purpose. Every time you start up, you have to swipe or click on the lock screen photos before you can enter your username and password, but why not just go straight to the login prompt? Here's how.

1. Open the registry editor by hitting Windows + R and typing "regedit" into the run box.

2. Click Yes if prompted by User Account Control.

3. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows by opening the folder tree in the left window pane.

4. Right-click in the right pane and select New->Key. Then rename the key Personalization. Skip this step if a Personalization key already exists under Windows.

5. Open the Personalization key.

6. Right-click in the right pane and select New->DWORD (32-bit) value. Rename it to NoLockScreen.

7. Set NoLockScreen to 1 by double clicking on it and entering 1 in the dialog box.

8. Close the Registry Editor and reboot your PC.

Step 9: Adjust Your Display Scaling

Today many laptops come with high-resolution displays that are sharp and colorful, but have so many pixels that your icons and fonts may appear a little too small out of the box. Conversely, your laptop may have icons and fonts that are larger than you need them to be, potentially wasting screen real estate. You can control the size of desktop objects using a Windows feature known as display scaling. If on-screen content is too small for you, you can turn the scaling up to 125 or even 150 percent. However, if you'd like to fit more on the display at once, you can turn that number down to 100 percent. Here's how.

1. Right click on your desktop and select Display Settings.

2. Change the menu setting under "Change the size of text, apps . . . " You cannot get any smaller than 100 percent. You will notice an immediate change to the size of some menus.

3. Reboot your computer or log out and log back in.

Step 10: Set Up Keyboard Shortcuts for Every App

You can save a lot of time -- at least several minutes a day that add up over time -- by using keyboard shortcuts rather than rolling your mouse pointer across a screen to open a menu or double-click on an icon. In addition to memorizing the most important built-in Windows keyboard shortcuts and specific shortcuts for your favorite apps (ex: CTRL+ T opens a new tab in your browser), you can and should set up hot keys that open your favorite programs. Here's how.

1. Open the run dialog box by hitting Windows + R.

2. Type "explorer shell:AppsFolder" into the box and hit OK.

3. Right click on the appyou want andselect Create Shortcut.

4. Click Yes when prompted. A new icon appears on your desktop.

5. Right-click on the new shortcut and select Properties.

6. Enter a key combination using CTRL + ALT + a Character in the Shortcut key box. You can use letters, numbers or symbols. We suggest using letters that represent the program you're launching (ex: CTRL + ALT + W for Word).

Step 11: Unhide File Extensions and Hidden Files

By default, Windows 10 treats you like an untrustworthy teenager, hiding extensions (ex: .docx, .xls, .jpg) and making system files and folders completely invisible. But seeing the three or four-letter file extensions is particularly important because they let you know exactly what type of file you're looking at. It's not enough to know, for example, that "my-family-vacation" is a picture file; you should know whether it's a JPG, a GIF or a PNG file before you decide to print or share it. By the same token, a myreport.doc can be read by Microsoft Word from 2003 and before but myreport.docx requires newer software.

1. Open File Explorer. You can get there by clicking on the yellow folder icon on the taskbar.

2. Click the View tab at the top of the window.

3. Toggle on "File name extensions" and "Hidden items." You will need to hit "View" again after you check the first one.

Step 12: Change Your Desktop Theme

If you're happy with the wallpaper and color scheme that your computer came with, by all means keep it. However, most people will want to personalize Windows 10's look and feel by changing themes. Here's how:

Right click on the desktop and select Personalize.

The personalization menu appears.

Desktop Wallpaper

To change your desktop wallpaper:

1. Select Picture, Solid Color or Slideshow from the Background menu.

2a. If you picked "picture," select a photo from the list or browse for one on your hard drive.

2b. If you picked, "solid color," select one of the available shades.

2c. If you chose "Slideshow," decide which folder you want the show to draw from. It defaults to your pictures library.

Accent Colors

To change the color of your taskbar, window title bars and Start menu:

1. Click Colors in the left nav.

2. Pick a color or toggle "automatically pick" to on.

3. Toggle "Show color on Start, taskbar..." to On.

Themes

Rather than tweaking the colors and wallpaper separately, you can choose from a pre-existing theme.

1. Click Themes in the left pane.

2. Choose a theme.

Click "Get more themes online" if you want to download additional options.

The current editor-in-chief of our sister site, Tom's Hardware, Avram served as editorial director of Laptop from 2007 to 2018. With his technical knowledge and passion for testing, Avram programmed several of our real-world benchmarks, including the Laptop Battery Test. He holds a master’s degree in English from NYU.

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I can't even get to Step 1. Because I'm in Portugal, everything is in Portuguese, which I can't read, and it will not allow me to change the language. I'm stuck in the set up instructions. Now I can't go forward or backward.

Pls just I bought my new laptop last monht ago,they request an email add then I create my new account but the problem is I forgot to put my # so that automatic will send the code but I can't see it .plz help me to fix it I don't know how to do now

Start by loading some security software onto your computer as soon as you’re online. Skip the programs that are often pre-loaded and grab one of the free options instead. We recommend Avira Free Antivirus. In our tests, it did a very good job of protecting against most malware threats.

Most of the things listed are advanced features. A common user wouldn't require most of them. And I guess Windows Update is set to update automatically by default. Why would non-developer require a FTP client? And see extensions for all files in the filename itself. Disabling UAC and Smartscreen isn't required for usual regular applications.

Just bought my lap-top was trying to set it up - unfortunately in the first few minutes I entered a pass-word and in the next few minutes I forgot it !! - how do I get back in to change it ?? ..........Bill

I have a new HP laptop and am going through the set up process and it's asking me to sign into my Microsoft account so I am putting my Gmail email and password in but it just won't accept it and I can't proceed. Any ideas?

Just bought a laptop had it set up by Geek Squad. Need to know how to set up a home page, we have no knowledge do we need to plug it in to get email. Very frustrated. Would there be a tutorial (if so what wld the icon look like) would appreciate any help. Regards Julie

Thank you for the info. I followed your steps for Windows Updates, but am wondering how you know when they are finished. Screen says :downloading updates', but it's been over an hour and the status bar has no progress showing, but there is no progress showing on the status bar.